Gaming desktop

ladymarmalade222

Following my last request for advice on trying to get my son's laptop to work for the game Ark survival evolved and realising it is not powerful enough. He has asked for a powerful gaming desktop for xmas.

Looking at the prices i thought i would get researching and saving:D

Could anybody advise me on how much i will need to spend and do i get one specifically built or look to buy one of a particular spec?

I know its how long is a piece of string but i don't want it to be out of date in a year if that makes sense.

Many thanks

Xxx

Fightsback

What figure did you have in mind, that's most important ?

Including monitor you'll be looking around the £500 for good enough, are you happy with that amount ? For gaming the most important thing is the graphics card and the best bang for buck is currently the Nvidia GTX 750ti.

Cycrow

You dont need to spend a huge amount to get a viable gaming computer. However it does depend on how you want to the run the game. Ie if you want to run the latest games with all the details turned up and at high resolution, then you need something more powerful than if you just want games to run at a respectable level.

most of the push with graphics technology is for 4k gaming, so sticking to 1080 means you can get away with mid range, fairly cheap gpus.

the specs i would consider would be an i5, 8mb ram, and something around the GTX770/960 (or AMD equivalent).
Probably about £700-800
But it depends how much you are willing to spend. You could get away with something cheaper and still be fairly suitable for gaming.
i wouldn't go any lower than a GTX750 however

ladymarmalade222

Thanks for replying.

I was expecting around 800 ish all in. I know it sounds a lot bit his birthday is just before xmas and all the relatives money goes in the pot and he is selling some of his unused gadgets too.

I know the requirements for the game I mentioned are quite high with regards to RAM etc and as i said i didnt want a new game 6 months down the line unable to work as we paid a fair bit for this laptop 18mths ago and it won't work with the Ark game and almost sets on fire it gets that hot it shuts itself down

Xxx

LeafGreen

Might a PS4 or Xbox One be worth considering as a cheaper alternative?

ladymarmalade222

Hes not interested in consoles unfortunately. He loves playing on pcs. Thanks anyway.

Any recommendations on where to buy from? Is it best to get one built up or buy one ready made?

Many thanks

Xx

Cycrow

Generally with gaming pcs, its best to get the parts and build it yourself. The off the shelf pcs, are usually lacking in one area or another.

if you dont want to do the build yourself, there are plenty of places you can give a spec and get them to build it for you.

you could try somewhere like pcspecalist or overclockers

generally if they let you configure the system, then it should be fine.

go for an i5 over an i3. Newer games are using more and more processing power, and are starting to need quad core as a minimum

gunte

As an example £569.99 will get you this ( operating system extra) at the moment.Change configuration as you wish. Standard 6 Year Warranty RTB

Videocard Benchmarks

jaydeeuk1

Fightsback wrote: »

What figure did you have in mind, that's most important ?

Including monitor you'll be looking around the £500 for good enough, are you happy with that amount ? For gaming the most important thing is the graphics card and the best bang for buck is currently the Nvidia GTX 750ti.

I have the 750 Ti and whilst its an excellent card for my low profile HTPC, it certainly isn't best bang for buck gaming wise. Especially since the price I paid a year ago is lower than what you have to pay today. I only chose it above a cheaper but faster 265x because of my heat, space and power requirements. For £20 more than a 750ti you can get a 760 or £30 more a R9 270x OC, both imo far more value for money. You pay a premium for the 750ti as it doesn't require external power and will silently sip power in a media centre case.